Atlanta child murders
Encyclopedia
The Atlanta Child Murders, known locally as the "missing and murdered children case", were a series of murder
s committed in Atlanta, Georgia, United States
from the summer of 1979 until the spring of 1981. Over the two-year period, a minimum of twenty-eight African-American children, adolescents and adults were killed. Atlanta native Wayne Williams
, also African American and 23-years-old at the time of the last murder, was arrested for and convicted of two of the murders.
On October 21, 1979, Yusuf Bell went to the store to buy snuff for a neighbor, Eula Birdsong. A witness said she saw Yusuf getting into a blue car before he disappeared. His body was found on November 8, 1979, in the abandoned E.P. Johnson elementary school. He was still wearing the brown cut-off shorts he was last seen in. He had been strangled. The police did not immediately link his disappearance to the previous killings.
The next victim, 12-year-old Angel Lenair, was the first female victim of the killer. She disappeared March 4, 1980 and was found 6 days later, strangled, tied to a tree and possibly sexually assaulted. On March 11, 1980, Jeffery Mathis disappeared while on an errand for his mother.
On June 9, Chris Richardson went missing on his way to a local pool. On June 22 and June 23, seven-year-old Latonya Wilson and 10-year-old Aaron Wyche went missing. The extended wave of disappearances and murders panicked parents and children in the city, and the government struggled to ensure the safety of children. Nonetheless, apparently linked murders continued.
The murders of two children, Anthony Carter and Earl Terell, occurred in July 1980.
Between August and November 1980, five more killings took place. There were no known victims during the month of December. All the victims had been African-American children between the ages of nine and 14 and most had been asphyxiated.
The murders continued into 1981. The first known victim in the new year was Lubie Geter, who disappeared on January 3. Geter's body was found on February 5. Geter's friend Terry Pue also went missing in January. An anonymous caller told the police where to find Pue's body.
In February two murders occurred, believed linked to the others. In March, four Atlanta linked murders took place, including that of Eddie Duncan, the first adult victim.
In April, Larry Rogers was murdered, as well as adult ex-convict John Porter and Jimmy Ray Payne.
After William Barrett went missing on May 16, 1981, his body was found close to his home. The last victim added to the list was Nathaniel Cater, 27 years old.
Investigator Chet Dettlinger created a map of the victims' locations. Despite the difference in ages, the victims fell with the same geographic parameters. They were connected to Memorial Drive and 11 major streets in the area.
privately profiled that the killer would dump the next victim into a body of water to remove any evidence. Some victims had already been put in the river. Police staked out the James Jackson Parkway/south Cobb Drive bridge over the Chattahoochee River
between Atlanta/Fulton County and suburban Cobb County to monitor suspicious activity that might be connected to the murders. On the last night of their stake-out, May 22, 1981, detectives got the first major break in the case when an officer heard a splash in the water beneath the bridge. He saw a white 1970 Chevrolet
station wagon
slowly driving away from the bridge.
An Atlanta police patrol car and a second unmarked car carrying federal agents first followed and then stopped the station wagon about a half mile from the bridge. The driver was 23-year-old Wayne Bertram Williams, a failed music promoter and freelance photographer. The Chevrolet wagon belonged to his parents. Dog hair and fiber evidence recovered from the rear of the vehicle were later major factors in the police building a case against Williams, as they matched his dog and carpet in his parents' house. During questioning, Williams said he was on his way to audition a woman named Cheryl Johnson as a singer. Williams claimed she lived in the nearby Cobb County town of Smyrna
. Police did not find any record of Cheryl Johnson nor of Williams's claimed appointment with her.
Two days later, on May 24, the naked body of Nathaniel Cater, 27, was found floating downriver just a few miles from the bridge where Williams had stopped his car. The medical examiner determined the body had been in the river no more than 36 to 48 hours. Based on this evidence, including hearing the splash, police believed that Williams had killed Cater and disposed of his body while the police were nearby.
Several pieces of evidence led the police to consider Williams the prime suspect. On June 21, 1981, they arrested him. A Grand Jury
indicted him for first-degree murder in the deaths of Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne, age 22. The trial date was set for early 1982.
The trial officially began on January 6, 1982, with Judge Clarence Cooper presiding. The most important evidence against Williams was the fiber analysis between victims and the 12 pattern-murder cases, in which circumstantial evidence culminated in numerous links among the crimes. This included witnesses testifying to seeing Williams with the victims, and some witnesses suggesting that he had solicited sexual favors.
On February 27, 1982 - after only eleven hours of deliberation - the jury found Wayne Bertram Williams guilty of the two murders. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in the Georgia state prison at Reidsville
.
On May 6, 2005, the DeKalb County, Georgia
, Police Chief Louis Graham ordered the reopening of the murder cases of five boys who were killed in DeKalb County between February and May 1981 that had been attributed to Williams. Police Chief Graham believed that Williams may have been innocent of these and other murders. The remaining cases are under the jurisdiction of Fulton County, Georgia
, and those authorities consider their related murder cases closed with the arrest and trial of Williams.
and Sammy Davis Jr.. The Jacksons performed on July 22, 1981 at the Atlanta Omni Coliseum
during their Triumph Tour
raising $100,000 for the Atlanta Children's Foundation in response to the kidnappings and murders.
Wayne Williams's father, who was a media photographer in Atlanta at the time, could be seen on stage with Frank Sinatra.
About six months after becoming the DeKalb County Police Chief, Graham reopened the investigations into the deaths of the five DeKalb County victims: Aaron Wyche, 10; Curtis Walker, 13; Yusuf Bell, 15; William Barrett, 17; and Patrick Baltazar, 11. Graham, one of the original investigators in these cases, said he never believed Wayne Williams, the man convicted of two of the killings and blamed for 22 others, was guilty of any of them.
On August 6, 2005, journalists reported that Charles T. Sanders, a white supremacist affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan
(KKK), once praised the crimes in secretly recorded conversations. Although Sanders did not claim responsibility for any of the deaths, lawyers for Williams believed that the evidence will help their bid for a new trial for Williams. The police had investigated Sanders in relation to the murders, but dropped the probe into his and the KKK's possible involvement after seven weeks, when Sanders and two of his brothers passed lie detector
tests.
The criminal profiler John E. Douglas
stated that, while he believes that Williams committed many of the murders, he does not think that he committed them all. Douglas added that he believes that law enforcement authorities have some idea of who the other killers are, cryptically adding, "It isn't a single offender and the truth isn't pleasant."
On June 21, 2006, the DeKalb County Police dropped its reinvestigation of the Atlanta child murders. After resigning, Graham was replaced by the Acting Chief, Nick Marinelli, who said, "We dredged up what we had, and nothing has panned out, so until something does or additional evidence comes our way, or there's forensic feedback from existing evidence, we will continue to pursue the [other] cold cases that are [with]in our reach."
On January 29, 2007, attorneys for the State of Georgia agreed to allow DNA testing of the dog hair that was used to help convict Williams. This decision was a response to a legal filing as a part of Williams' efforts to appeal his conviction and life sentences. Williams's lawyer, Jack Martin, asked a Fulton County Superior Court judge to allow DNA tests on canine and human hair and blood, stating the results might help Williams win a new trial.
On June 26, 2007, the DNA test results were published, but they failed to exonerate Williams. While some prosecutors asserted that the results "linked" Williams to the killings, defense lawyers called the test results inconclusive. Dr. Elizabeth Wictum, director of the UC Davis laboratory that carried out the testing, told The Associated Press that while the results were “fairly significant,” they "don't conclusively point to Williams' dog as the source of the hair", because the lab was able to test only for mitochondrial DNA
which, unlike nuclear DNA
, cannot be shown to be unique to one dog.
In 1985, a film was released titled The Atlanta Child Murders. The film was centered around the murders that took place and the arrest of the suspect. Like JFK
, the film revolved mainly around the aftermath of the killings and the trials. The film starred Calvin Lewis, Morgan Freeman
, James Earl Jones
, Rip Torn
, Jason Robards
, Martin Sheen
, and Bill Paxton
. Atlanta officials criticized The Atlanta Child Murders film, claiming that it distorted the facts of the case. After a series of negotiations, CBS executives agreed to insert a disclaimer alerting viewers that the film is based on fact but contains fictional elements, however the film is based on a true story.
In 2000, Showtime released a drama film
titled Who Killed Atlanta's Children?
Like JFK and Frost/Nixon
, the film centered mainly around the intensity of a conspiracy
.
On June 10, 2010, CNN broadcasted a documentary
, The Atlanta Child Murders involving the case, with real interviews by Soledad O'Brien of the people involved including Wayne Williams
. The two-hour CNN documentary invited CNN viewers to weigh the evidence presented and then go to CNN.com to cast votes on whether Williams is "guilty," "innocent" -- or the case is "not proven." According to poll results, 68.6 percent of respondents said Williams was guilty. Only 4.3 percent said he was innocent. The remaining 27.1 percent chose a third option, "not proven," which was added to the CNN poll to offer a middle ground."
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s committed in Atlanta, Georgia, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from the summer of 1979 until the spring of 1981. Over the two-year period, a minimum of twenty-eight African-American children, adolescents and adults were killed. Atlanta native Wayne Williams
Wayne Williams
Wayne Bertram Williams is an American serial killer who committed most of the Atlanta Child Murders that occurred in 1979 through 1981. In January 1982, Williams was found guilty of the murder of two adult men...
, also African American and 23-years-old at the time of the last murder, was arrested for and convicted of two of the murders.
The murders
In the summer of 1979, Edward Hope Smith (14) and Alfred Evans (14) disappeared four days apart; both their bodies were found on July 28. Their confirmed deaths were the beginning of the series of murders believed to be committed by the "Atlanta Child Killer", so-called because it was popularly assumed there was only one perpetrator. The next murder victim, Milton Harvey (who was also 14), disappeared on September 4, 1979, while traveling to the bank to pay a credit card bill for his mother. His body was later recovered.On October 21, 1979, Yusuf Bell went to the store to buy snuff for a neighbor, Eula Birdsong. A witness said she saw Yusuf getting into a blue car before he disappeared. His body was found on November 8, 1979, in the abandoned E.P. Johnson elementary school. He was still wearing the brown cut-off shorts he was last seen in. He had been strangled. The police did not immediately link his disappearance to the previous killings.
The next victim, 12-year-old Angel Lenair, was the first female victim of the killer. She disappeared March 4, 1980 and was found 6 days later, strangled, tied to a tree and possibly sexually assaulted. On March 11, 1980, Jeffery Mathis disappeared while on an errand for his mother.
On June 9, Chris Richardson went missing on his way to a local pool. On June 22 and June 23, seven-year-old Latonya Wilson and 10-year-old Aaron Wyche went missing. The extended wave of disappearances and murders panicked parents and children in the city, and the government struggled to ensure the safety of children. Nonetheless, apparently linked murders continued.
The murders of two children, Anthony Carter and Earl Terell, occurred in July 1980.
Between August and November 1980, five more killings took place. There were no known victims during the month of December. All the victims had been African-American children between the ages of nine and 14 and most had been asphyxiated.
The murders continued into 1981. The first known victim in the new year was Lubie Geter, who disappeared on January 3. Geter's body was found on February 5. Geter's friend Terry Pue also went missing in January. An anonymous caller told the police where to find Pue's body.
In February two murders occurred, believed linked to the others. In March, four Atlanta linked murders took place, including that of Eddie Duncan, the first adult victim.
In April, Larry Rogers was murdered, as well as adult ex-convict John Porter and Jimmy Ray Payne.
After William Barrett went missing on May 16, 1981, his body was found close to his home. The last victim added to the list was Nathaniel Cater, 27 years old.
Investigator Chet Dettlinger created a map of the victims' locations. Despite the difference in ages, the victims fell with the same geographic parameters. They were connected to Memorial Drive and 11 major streets in the area.
Capturing the suspect
As the news media divulged that physical evidence was being gathered from the corpses, the FBIFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
privately profiled that the killer would dump the next victim into a body of water to remove any evidence. Some victims had already been put in the river. Police staked out the James Jackson Parkway/south Cobb Drive bridge over the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...
between Atlanta/Fulton County and suburban Cobb County to monitor suspicious activity that might be connected to the murders. On the last night of their stake-out, May 22, 1981, detectives got the first major break in the case when an officer heard a splash in the water beneath the bridge. He saw a white 1970 Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
station wagon
Station wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...
slowly driving away from the bridge.
An Atlanta police patrol car and a second unmarked car carrying federal agents first followed and then stopped the station wagon about a half mile from the bridge. The driver was 23-year-old Wayne Bertram Williams, a failed music promoter and freelance photographer. The Chevrolet wagon belonged to his parents. Dog hair and fiber evidence recovered from the rear of the vehicle were later major factors in the police building a case against Williams, as they matched his dog and carpet in his parents' house. During questioning, Williams said he was on his way to audition a woman named Cheryl Johnson as a singer. Williams claimed she lived in the nearby Cobb County town of Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
. Police did not find any record of Cheryl Johnson nor of Williams's claimed appointment with her.
Two days later, on May 24, the naked body of Nathaniel Cater, 27, was found floating downriver just a few miles from the bridge where Williams had stopped his car. The medical examiner determined the body had been in the river no more than 36 to 48 hours. Based on this evidence, including hearing the splash, police believed that Williams had killed Cater and disposed of his body while the police were nearby.
Several pieces of evidence led the police to consider Williams the prime suspect. On June 21, 1981, they arrested him. A Grand Jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
indicted him for first-degree murder in the deaths of Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne, age 22. The trial date was set for early 1982.
Trial
Jury selection began on December 28, 1981, and lasted six days. The jury was composed of nine women and three men, with a racial composition of eight African-Americans and four Caucasians.The trial officially began on January 6, 1982, with Judge Clarence Cooper presiding. The most important evidence against Williams was the fiber analysis between victims and the 12 pattern-murder cases, in which circumstantial evidence culminated in numerous links among the crimes. This included witnesses testifying to seeing Williams with the victims, and some witnesses suggesting that he had solicited sexual favors.
On February 27, 1982 - after only eleven hours of deliberation - the jury found Wayne Bertram Williams guilty of the two murders. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in the Georgia state prison at Reidsville
Reidsville, Georgia
Reidsville is a city in Tattnall County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,235 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Tattnall County...
.
On May 6, 2005, the DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...
, Police Chief Louis Graham ordered the reopening of the murder cases of five boys who were killed in DeKalb County between February and May 1981 that had been attributed to Williams. Police Chief Graham believed that Williams may have been innocent of these and other murders. The remaining cases are under the jurisdiction of Fulton County, Georgia
Fulton County, Georgia
Fulton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. Its county seat is Atlanta, the state capital since 1868 and the principal county of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
, and those authorities consider their related murder cases closed with the arrest and trial of Williams.
Aftermath
Musicians performed concerts to honor the victims, and to provide benefits to the victim's families. Performers included Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Sammy Davis Jr.. The Jacksons performed on July 22, 1981 at the Atlanta Omni Coliseum
Omni Coliseum
The Omni Coliseum, usually called The Omni, from the Latin for "all," or "every," was an indoor arena, located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378, for basketball and 15,278, for ice hockey...
during their Triumph Tour
Triumph Tour
The Triumph Tour was a concert tour by The Jacksons, covering the United States from July 9 to September 26, 1981. The tour grossed a total of $5.5 million, setting a record breaking 4 sold out concerts in Los Angeles, California.-History:...
raising $100,000 for the Atlanta Children's Foundation in response to the kidnappings and murders.
Wayne Williams's father, who was a media photographer in Atlanta at the time, could be seen on stage with Frank Sinatra.
Recent developments
Now 52 years old, Wayne Williams continues to maintain his innocence.About six months after becoming the DeKalb County Police Chief, Graham reopened the investigations into the deaths of the five DeKalb County victims: Aaron Wyche, 10; Curtis Walker, 13; Yusuf Bell, 15; William Barrett, 17; and Patrick Baltazar, 11. Graham, one of the original investigators in these cases, said he never believed Wayne Williams, the man convicted of two of the killings and blamed for 22 others, was guilty of any of them.
On August 6, 2005, journalists reported that Charles T. Sanders, a white supremacist affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
(KKK), once praised the crimes in secretly recorded conversations. Although Sanders did not claim responsibility for any of the deaths, lawyers for Williams believed that the evidence will help their bid for a new trial for Williams. The police had investigated Sanders in relation to the murders, but dropped the probe into his and the KKK's possible involvement after seven weeks, when Sanders and two of his brothers passed lie detector
Lie Detector
"Lie Detector" is a CD single by The Reverend Horton Heat. It was released in October 1998 on Sub Pop.-Personnel:*Jim "Reverend Horton" Heath - lead vocals, guitar*Jimbo Wallace - upright bass, vocals*Scott Churilla - drums, vocals...
tests.
The criminal profiler John E. Douglas
John E. Douglas
John Edward Douglas , is a former special agent with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation , one of the first criminal profilers, and criminal psychology author.-Early life:...
stated that, while he believes that Williams committed many of the murders, he does not think that he committed them all. Douglas added that he believes that law enforcement authorities have some idea of who the other killers are, cryptically adding, "It isn't a single offender and the truth isn't pleasant."
On June 21, 2006, the DeKalb County Police dropped its reinvestigation of the Atlanta child murders. After resigning, Graham was replaced by the Acting Chief, Nick Marinelli, who said, "We dredged up what we had, and nothing has panned out, so until something does or additional evidence comes our way, or there's forensic feedback from existing evidence, we will continue to pursue the [other] cold cases that are [with]in our reach."
On January 29, 2007, attorneys for the State of Georgia agreed to allow DNA testing of the dog hair that was used to help convict Williams. This decision was a response to a legal filing as a part of Williams' efforts to appeal his conviction and life sentences. Williams's lawyer, Jack Martin, asked a Fulton County Superior Court judge to allow DNA tests on canine and human hair and blood, stating the results might help Williams win a new trial.
On June 26, 2007, the DNA test results were published, but they failed to exonerate Williams. While some prosecutors asserted that the results "linked" Williams to the killings, defense lawyers called the test results inconclusive. Dr. Elizabeth Wictum, director of the UC Davis laboratory that carried out the testing, told The Associated Press that while the results were “fairly significant,” they "don't conclusively point to Williams' dog as the source of the hair", because the lab was able to test only for mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
which, unlike nuclear DNA
Nuclear DNA
Nuclear DNA, nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid , is DNA contained within a nucleus of eukaryotic organisms. In mammals and vertebrates, nuclear DNA encodes more of the genome than the mitochondrial DNA and is composed of information inherited from two parents, one male, and one female, rather than...
, cannot be shown to be unique to one dog.
Known child victims
| Name | Age | Date of disappearance |
| Edward Smith | 14 | July 21, 1979 |
| Alfred Evans | 13 | July 25, 1979 |
| Milton Harvey | 14 | September 4, 1979 |
| Yusef Bell | 9 | October 21, 1979 |
| Angel Lenair | 12 | March 4, 1980 |
| Jeffery Mathis | 10 | March 11, 1980 |
| Eric Middlebrooks | 14 | May 18, 1980 |
| Chris Richardson | 12 | June 9, 1980 |
| Latonya Wilson | 7 | June 22, 1980 |
| Aaron Wyche | 10 | June 23, 1980 |
| Anthony Carter | 9 | July 6, 1980 |
| Earl Terell | 11 | July 30, 1980 |
| Clifford Jones | 13 | August 20, 1980 |
| Darren Glass | 10 | September 14, 1980 |
| Charles Stephens | 12 | October 9, 1980 |
| Aaron Jackson | 9 | November 1, 1980 |
| Patrick Rogers | 16 | November 10, 1980 |
| Lubie Geter | 14 | January 3, 1981 |
| Terry Pue | 15 | January 22, 1981 |
| Patrick Baltazar | 11 | February 6, 1981 |
| Curtis Walker | 15 | February 19, 1981 |
| Joseph Bell | 15 | March 2, 1981 |
| Timothy Hill | 13 | March 13, 1981 |
Media adaptions
The first national media coverage of the missing and murdered children was in 1980, when a team from ABC News 20/20, Stanhope Gould and Bill Lichtenstein, and a producer, Steve Tello and correspondent Bob Sirkin, from the ABC Atlanta bureau looked in the case. They were assigned to the story after ABC News president Roone Arledge read a tiny news story in the newspaper that said police had ruled out any connection between a day care explosion, which turned out to be a faulty furnace, and the cases of lost and missing children, which had been previously unreported on in the national media. In a week, the team reported on the cases of the dead and missing kids, and they broke the story that the Atlanta Police Task Force was not writing down or following up every lead they received through the police hotline that had been set up.In 1985, a film was released titled The Atlanta Child Murders. The film was centered around the murders that took place and the arrest of the suspect. Like JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
, the film revolved mainly around the aftermath of the killings and the trials. The film starred Calvin Lewis, Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
, Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
, Jason Robards
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, and Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
. Atlanta officials criticized The Atlanta Child Murders film, claiming that it distorted the facts of the case. After a series of negotiations, CBS executives agreed to insert a disclaimer alerting viewers that the film is based on fact but contains fictional elements, however the film is based on a true story.
In 2000, Showtime released a drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
titled Who Killed Atlanta's Children?
Who Killed Atlanta's Children?
Who Killed Atlanta's Children? is a TV movie about the Atlanta child murders...
Like JFK and Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon (film)
Frost/Nixon is a 2008 historical drama film based on the 2006 play by Peter Morgan which dramatizes the Frost/Nixon interviews of 1977. The film was directed by Ron Howard and produced for Universal Pictures by Howard, Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working...
, the film centered mainly around the intensity of a conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
.
On June 10, 2010, CNN broadcasted a documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
, The Atlanta Child Murders involving the case, with real interviews by Soledad O'Brien of the people involved including Wayne Williams
Wayne Williams
Wayne Bertram Williams is an American serial killer who committed most of the Atlanta Child Murders that occurred in 1979 through 1981. In January 1982, Williams was found guilty of the murder of two adult men...
. The two-hour CNN documentary invited CNN viewers to weigh the evidence presented and then go to CNN.com to cast votes on whether Williams is "guilty," "innocent" -- or the case is "not proven." According to poll results, 68.6 percent of respondents said Williams was guilty. Only 4.3 percent said he was innocent. The remaining 27.1 percent chose a third option, "not proven," which was added to the CNN poll to offer a middle ground."
Further reading
- Keppel, RobertRobert D. KeppelRobert David Keppel is a retired American law enforcement officer and detective best known for his work investigating serial killers Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway.-Early life:...
. The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer. New York, Pocket Books, 2004 (revised and updated). Contains a chapter on the Atlanta Child Murders and Keppel's participation as a consultant with the investigation. - Jones, TayariTayari JonesTayari Jones is an African American author and winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction...
. Leaving Atlanta. New York, Warner Books, 2002. A novel that focuses on children during the time of the murders. - Bambara, Toni CadeToni Cade BambaraToni Cade Bambara, born Miltona Mirkin Cade was an African-American author, documentary film-maker, social activist and college professor.- Biography :...
. Those Bones Are Not My Child. New York, Pantheon Books, 1999. A novel about a mother who lost a child as part of the murders. - Reid, Kim. No Place Safe, New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2007. A memoir by the daughter of one of the police investigators.
- James BaldwinJames Baldwin (writer)James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,...
, The Evidence of Things Not SeenThe Evidence of Things Not SeenThe Evidence of Things Not Seen is a 1985 nonfiction book by James Baldwin about the Wayne Williams Atlanta child murders of 1979-1981. The title is a reference to the definition of faith from the Biblical Letter to the Hebrews 11:1.-External links:...
1985. Holt, Rinehart and WinstonHenry Holt and CompanyHenry Holt and Company is an American book publishing company. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt... - Chet Dettlinger, Jeff Prugh, The ListThe ListThe List is an Edinburgh-based fortnightly entertainment event listings magazine first published in 1985.It contains listings, news and reviews of film, music, shopping, books, comedy, clubs, art, sports, LGBT, food and drink in and around Scotland....
1983. Philmay Enterprises, Inc. The most comprehensive account in print written by the private detective once considered a suspect because of his thorough knowledge of the case. - John E. DouglasJohn E. DouglasJohn Edward Douglas , is a former special agent with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation , one of the first criminal profilers, and criminal psychology author.-Early life:...
and Mark Olshaker, Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, Scribner, 1995, See: Chapter 11, Atlanta, paqes 199-224.
External links
- IMDB – The Atlanta Child Murders
- IMDB – Who Killed Atlanta's Children?
- FBI file on the Atlanta Child Murders
- Crime Library: The Atlanta Child Murders